RCSI spin-out companies

Inthelia Therapeutics is a spin-out company from Professor Steve Kerrigan's group at the RCSI School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences. It is a cutting-edge biopharmaceutical company focused on transforming the landscape of precision medicine in infection. The company’s goal is to make a significant difference in treating serious infectious disease with the aim of positively impacting the health of millions of people across the world. 

The company's lead drug candidate, Cilengitide, is a potent inhibitor of αVβ3 integrin signaling and has shown significant efficacy in preclinical studies by improving survival rates in a rat model of pneumonia induced sepsis and reducing cytokine storm, excessive inflammation and lung injury in a pig model of COVID induced sepsis. This novel approach targets the mechanisms by which pathogens cause endothelial cell dysfunction, offering a promising non-antibiotic host targeted treatment pathway. 

Inthelia has secured notable funding, including a €1M J&J/BARDA BlueKnight Quickfire Next Gen challenge to complete large animal preclinical studies, and now aims to raise series A seed funding for GMP production scale-up and Phase II proof-of-concept study.

Interested parties please contact Dr Aoife Gallagher.

A joint RCSI/TCD spin-out from the group of Dr Dara Meldrum (formerly of the RCSI School of Physiotherapy, now at the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin), Vertigenius has developed a digital platform to enhance and expand treatment options for patients experiencing vertigo, dizziness, and imbalance, enable more efficient patient care and remote monitored treatment.

Their innovative software integrates a Clinician Portal, Patient App, and cutting-edge head sensor, offering a treatment solution and a complete remote delivery and monitoring system. Physiotherapists have an easy to use portal to prescribe exercises and deploy them to the smartphone app for patients’ immediate use. 

The patient app allows the patient to securely log in and receive their prescribed exercises and reading material. It also connects via Bluetooth on the phone to the Head Sensor. Having the App at home empowers the patient to refresh their memory on how the exercise is to be done, gives them instant feedback on how they are doing, and gives the healthcare practitioner a full view of their patients’ progress

Interested parties please contact Dr Aoife Gallagher

A spin-out from the group of Prof. Mauro Adamo of the RCSI Department of Chemistry, KelAda Pharmachem was established in 2013 to acquire and develop intellectual assets in the pharmachemical space.

KelAda’s mission is to be a catalyst for the integration of green technologies into the manufacture of pharmaceutical ingredients. This mission is underpinned by a focus on performing in-house world-class research and collaborating with other world-class researchers.

The company’s model is to identify, in-license and develop novel chemistry into scalable processes which can then be utilized by major pharmaceutical and fine-chemical players. This development is done by a team of chemists with many combined years' experience of chemical process development and manufacturing.

Interested parties please contact Dr Derek John.

A spin-out from the group of Prof. Leonie Young of the RCSI Department of Surgery, with co-founders Prof. Arnie Hill and Dr Damir Vareslija, PrOBMet is a precision oncology therapeutics company that is developing targeted treatments for breast cancer brain metastatic patients. The team will lead the development of breakthrough targeted therapies for metastatic breast cancer in the brain, a devastating disease that currently has limited treatment options.

Following extensive global characterisation of genomic changes in primary and metastatic brain metastasis ADAM22 was identified as a new drugable target with ADAM22 expression in the primary tumour associated with poor disease free survival. PrOBMet’s lead candidate is peptide mimetic against the natural ligand LGI1 which significantly reduced primary and metastatic burden and phenomenally obliterated brain metastatic disease in studies.

Probmet is currently a participant in the BioInnovation Institute (BII) Venture Lab acceleration program for early-stage companies. The programme will enable the team to de-risk the opportunity and seek further investment.

Interested parties please contact Dr Aoife Gallagher

A spin-out from the group of Professor Richard Costello of the RCSI School of Medicine, Phyxiom is developing an AI platform that transforms the clinical outcomes of patients with uncontrolled asthma.

Phyxiom offers a unique solution for the 12 million people who suffer from uncontrolled asthma in the US through its 100% digital business model that is device and medication independent and delivered by a proven world-class team of clinical and technology professionals.

The Phyxiom technology is the result of 10 years' of clinical research at RCSI developing a family of patented algorithms and software platforms for the management of chronic respiratory disease. Phyxiom’s unique platform supports precise diagnosis and treatment of uncontrolled asthma through clinically validated patented algorithms to deliver individualised patient care using the patient’s own data potentially leading to over $13.5bn p.a. in identified savings to the US healthcare system alone.

Interested parties please contact Dr Derek John.

A spin-out from the group of  Professor Helena Kelly of the RCSI School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, Oncolize is developing a thermoresponsive gel drug delivery platform (ChemoGel) for targeted delivery of chemotherapeutics to solid tumours of the pancreas.

ChemoGel is an injectable liquid at room temperature and undergoes gelation inside the tumour to provide a localised depot for the sustained release of chemotherapeutics. Local delivery to the tumour greatly increases drug exposure with the benefits of reduced systemic side effects. In pancreatic cancer, ChemoGel offers a solution to the unmet need for non-systemic neoadjuvant treatments to reduce tumour size for non-resectable pancreatic cancer patients to bring them back into the resectable range. ChemoGel is aligned with current treatment pathways and is compatible with standard surgical equipment and imaging systems.

OncoLize raised a $1.7m seed round in 2023 which will be used to complete GLP pre-clinical studies and GMP scale-up for the ChemoGel technology. We intend to raise a follow-on Series A round to commence first in man studies in 2026. Early proof of concept in pancreatic cancer will be obtained via a phase 1b trial.

Interested parties please contact Dr Derek John.

A spin-out from the group of Dr Aamir Hameed of the RCSI Department of Anatomy and Regenerative Medicine, Pumpinheart Ltd is developing, PReduction, a transcatheter implantable left ventricular assist device (LVAD) for the treatment of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF).

HFpEF currently accounts for approximately 50% of all the cases of HF and is estimated to cost the US healthcare system $26.55 billion by 2030, $21.24bn of which is expected to be spent on hospitalisation alone. To date, no pharmacological or device-based therapy has yet been shown to improve survival in randomised controlled trials of patients with HFpEF. Hence, it is a major unmet clinical need with an estimated total available market for the PReduction device of $32bn.

• €500k raised via Spark Crowdfunding share issuance and €350k via CLNs to achieve haemolysis test results and other preclinical animal test results in 2024
• €5m to achieve Proof of Technical Concept and Design Freeze in 2025
• €5m to achieve First in Human (FiH) data of an Acute Transapical version of PReduction to treat Severe Mitral Stenosis in 2026/2027
• €24m to complete PReduction device development and deliver Early Feasibility Study (EFS) results in 2028/2029

Interested parties please contact Dr Derek John.

A spin-out from the groups of Professor Sally-Ann Cryan of the RCSI School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences and Professor Andreas Heise of the RCSI School of Chemistry, StarMAT is developing a novel, patented, non-viral drug delivery technology based on Star Polypeptides.

Despite recent progress with advanced drug delivery technologies, there remain some significant drug development issues with the clinical translation of biotherapeutics and ATMPs due to the lack of suitable delivery vectors as alternatives to AAVs and LNPs.

To address this unmet need, StarMAT have developed a synthetic platform which produces materials which are:

1. Fully programmable in terms of structure and function enabling encapsulation of drugs with a variety of physicochemical properties e.g. RNA, DNA, proteins and small molecules.
2. Effective with difficult-to-deliver-to targets such as macrophages, stem cells, respiratory epithelial cells etc.
3. Have enhanced biocompatibility compared to other delivery vectors.
4. Easily and inexpensively fabricated and stable upon storage.

StarMAT’s mission is to revolutionise the formulation of the next generation of therapeutics. The team's vision is that StarMat will be the global leader and partner of choice in the development and supply of bespoke polypeptide derived drug delivery vectors to the biotech industry.

Interested parties please contact Dr Derek John.

A spin-out from the group of Professor Mauro Adamo of the RCSI School of Chemistry, MolecuNav is developing a synthetic fluorination platform which is operationally simple, high-yielding and fast and which enables the introduction of fluorine into drug molecules (both small molecules and biologics) in a way which either could not be done previously, or could only be done at huge expense of time and financial resources.

MoleculNav provides products and services to the pharmaceutical industry to enable medicinal chemists and DMPK groups access fluorinated and fluorine radiolabelled analogues of their development candidates.

Through MolecuNav’s patented chemistry, pharmaceutical companies can accelerate the triage of these early-stage pharmaceuticals by enabling a more detailed understanding of the compounds’ stability, metabolism and distribution.
MolecuNav’s mission is to be the global leader in the provision of fluorine tagging products and services to the pharmaceutical industry.

Interested parties please contact Dr Derek John.

A spin-out from the group of Dr Alan Hibbitts of the RCSI School of Anatomy and Regenerative Medicine, Local Enhanced Pharmaceutics (LEP) Biomedical Ltd has developed HyaGuard, a proprietary sub-conjunctival drug-delivery platform to combat inflammation and fibrosis (scarring) in post-surgery glaucoma patients.

Poor outcomes and the need for repeat interventions in glaucoma drainage surgeries are strongly linked to uncontrolled post-operative inflammation and fibrosis. Poor patient adherence to post-surgical drop regimes often contributes to sub-optimal outcomes, costly rescue/repeat surgeries and is a significant negative impact on patient quality of life.

To address this unmet need, HyaGuard™ has been designed as a biodegradable drug delivery platform which is rapidly inserted as an adjunct product to the primary surgery. HyaGuard is loaded to deliver anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic molecules in a controlled manner that specifically matches the inflammatory cascade.

This enhanced drug delivery inhibits inflammation and fibrosis at key stages of the wound healing process. This in turn improves surgical outcomes and eliminates the burden of patient-administered drugs and repeat surgical procedures.

Interested parties please contact Dr Derek John.

An ENT-focused spin-out from the group of Professor Fergal O’Brien of the RCSI School of Anatomy and Regenerative Medicine, Tympulse Medical’s first product, TympanoColl, is a new technology for the fast and effective repair of damaged tympanic membranes.

Every year, more than 200 million adults globally have preventable disabling hearing loss, predominantly due to burst eardrums. Repairing damage to the eardrum (Tympanic Membrane (TM)) traditionally uses an invasive surgical procedure and often need the patient’s own donor tissue. The procedure also requires General Anaesthetic, a large incision at the back of the ear, and cannot be completed in an outpatient setting. This puts an unnecessary strain on the healthcare system because it needs unnecessary time in the OR for a procedure that realistically could be completed far quicker in a doctor’s surgery. 

Tympulse Medical has created TympanoCollTM, an exciting combination of (i) a new biodegradable implant with (ii) an innovative single-step delivery system to repair the ear drum via the ear canal. The product will be supplied as a complete ENT surgical toolkit, with all the components needed to complete the procedure quickly, easily and safely in an outpatient setting. 

Tympulse has received pre-seed investment and is currently raising Seed Funding to set up an Irish-based small-scale cGMP manufacturing site to support early clinical validation and market-entry into US and EU Medical Device markets.  

Interested parties please contact Dr Derek John.

Founded by Dr Cian O’Leary and Dr Sam Maher of the RCSI School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, Renovate Pharma is developing inhaled, antifibrotic therapies for chronic respiratory diseases, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

The global IPF market is currently valued at $4bn and predicted to reach $6-$8bn by 2030. IPF will be an entry point into new therapeutic indications for other fibrotic lung diseases and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Renovate’s portfolio of inhaled medicines will offer standalone and drug combination regimens with minimal side effects and maximal efficacy to the benefit of patients, care providers and payers.

The Renovate Pharma team has a complementary mix of pharmaceutical expertise, fundamental scientific knowledge, and research commercialisation and aim to make Renovate Pharma a global leader in the development and exploitation of novel inhaled therapeutics for chronic lung diseases.

Interested parties please contact Dr Derek John.

Founded by Dr Brona Murphy, and Dr Katja Rybakova of RCSI’s Department of Physiology & Medical Physics, Cellgebra is developing a digital solution to aid rational oncology drug discovery. Presently, a large source of drug failure (40 to 80%) in clinical trials is the lack of efficacy, which is linked to poor understanding of the molecular mechanisms causing disease and corresponding incorrect identification of targets and responsive patient populations.

Reliable pre-clinical models remain difficult to establish and expensive for high volume testing. Our platform offers an alternative by simulating cell response to a given drug in a specific cancer based on digital copy of cell signalling pathways. It will enable a wide range of quick and low cost in silico experiments for different patient populations that will provide value across the drug development cycle:

• Identify new drug targets
• Test potential drug lead candidates based on specific on and off target profile
• Identify responsive patient populations
• Identify promising drug combinations
• Predict future resistance mechanisms

The digital twins are built using proprietary algorithms and datasets generated using patient derived cell lines grown in 3D culture.

Interested parties please contact Dr Derek John.